Like a closed box of precious jewels the magnificent church, containing the utmost of man's efforts towards beauty and splendour, lay humbly before the feet of the Lord.
The mystical aspect of this material splendour touched and moved Duprès; he stood inside the door, looking down the vistas of the five aisles which were all enveloped in a wine-coloured dusk, broken here and there by vivid burning beams of light as the sun struck the fiery windows where the glass blazed orange, purple, violet, and azure with the uttermost strength of which colour is capable, and which seemed to melt into infinite grey-green distance behind the altar.
In between the pillars of the naves were gorgeous tombs on which ladies and cavaliers in alabaster, marble, brass, and painted wood lay with humble hands pointing upwards, while the glow from the windows fell on the silk and brocaded banners which hung above them.
The walls were lined with chapels and altars, each sparkling like a cluster of brilliant gems; among them were conspicuous those of the twenty-seven city guilds whose banners and escutcheons were fastened above the entrance grilles.
The vista was closed by a huge sculptured group of white marble which rose above the High Altar; against the soft mysterious shadows and flickering lights of the Lady Chapel the colossal figures representing Christ and the two thieves on the Cross showed with a luminous glow—half-rose, half-amber—which rendered the outlines impalpable and the hue like the soft substance of flesh. Behind was dimly visible the exquisite outline of the tabernacle or repository, the shrine for the mystical body of Christ, which rose on a single pillar in a series of beautiful arches and columns till lost in the deep warm shadows of the roof.
Duprès moved slowly down the centre aisle; the air was heavy with the drowsy perfumes of myrrh and spikenard, and misty with the perpetual fumes of incense; the eternal lamps and the perfumed candles which burnt before shrines and altars gleamed on wrought gold, embossed silver, splendid paintings, silk tapestries, beaten bronze, carved wood, and all the marvellous details of the crooked stone of columns and roof and walls, which were rich with a thousand forms of birds, beasts, flowers, and creations of pure fantasy.
Duprès began to notice his fellow-companions who were walking in twos and threes round the aisles; they were mostly of the poorer sort, and their behaviour was rude and noisy.
A considerable crowd was gathered in the choir, where the sacred image stared at them from behind her iron bars.
A few priests hurried to and fro; they looked, Duprès thought, frightened.
He wandered back to the main entrance and stared out.